May have mentioned this before, but going forward, optional game-day morning skates are going to be the rule rather than the exception.

Which does cut into projected lines and defense pairings. Not saying that’s the reason Todd McLellan is moving in that direction – guys do need to conserve energy at this time of the year – but he probably considers it a side benefit.

Can report, however, that Benn Ferriero is likely to start out on one of the top two lines tonight and Andrew Desjardins probably will be back in a fourth-line role.

Jim Vandermeer skated with the defensemen this morning and that probably doesn’t bode well for seeing him in the lineup.

*****Antti Niemi will be in goal and that means it’ll be Finn vs. Finn as Miikka Kiprusoff gets his second shot at a 300th career victory.

Kiprusoff, of course, was a San Jose draft pick (116th overall in 1995) and the first 14 of his 299 wins came during his time with the Sharks.

Niemi remembers Kiprusoff from those days, but the two do not have a shared past beyond the fact both come from Finland.

“Never met him,” Niemi said this morning.

At the same time, he acknowledged getting a little charged up to play Kiprusoff for reasons that go beyond the Finland connection.

“Veteran goalies who have been in the league for a long time, we remember from a long time ago so of course you get a little extra energy playing against those guys,” said Niemi, who, at 28 is seven years younger than the Flames netminder.

Ryane Clowe didn’t reach the NHL before Kiprusoff was traded in November 2003, but he does remember him from early training camps.

“You could tell he was a very good goalie,” Clowe said. “He’s kind of excelled in Calgary and it’s pretty amazing. He’s one of the most consistent goalies throughout the league and a workhorse.

“I think his agility and his quickness is what makes him the goalie he is,” the Sharks forward added. “I’d love to see him get 300 – just not tonight.”

McLellan, too, had nice things to say about Kiprusoff.

“He’s a hell of a goaltender,” the Sharks coach said. “I think it’s probably fair to say when those players walk into the locker room in Calgary and they see his number or his name circled, they get a pretty good feeling. That’s a true sign of a goaltender that can carry a team and he;s been that for many years there.”

But, no, keeping Kiprusoff from reaching that 300th won’t be part of the pre-game pep talk.

“We won’t use that as a motivating tool by any means,” McLellan said. “There could be another 10 or 15 milestones that other players can reach and we’re not even aware of them.”

****Actually, there’s also a milestone on the Sharks’ side tonight as well with Joe Pavelski playing his 400th game.

“It’s a great accomplishment for Joe and he’s still fairly young,” said Clowe, who is 37 games away from his own 400th. “The fact that he’s played it all with San Jose, he’s got a couple years left in his contract and I’m sure he’ll be here another while after that. Pavs is pretty steady. He’s consistent throughout these 400 games and he’s made an impact.”

We’ll credit @SharksStats on Twitter with the additional note that Pavelski becomes the fifth Shark forward to play his first 400 games in teal, following Jeff Friesen, Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm and Jonathan Cheechoo.

****Owen Nolan will get to hear Sharks fans roar in his behalf tonight as he’ll be taking part in a pre-game ceremonial puck drop. I’ll be shocked if the cheering isn’t loud and long.

Timing of all this while Calgary is in town can’t be an accident, considering he was a Flame for the 2007-08 season.

If you’re watching on TV, he’s also doing interviews between periods.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

White had 17 minutes of ice time — Vandemeer had 16. Braun had 18. Murray was just a few seconds shy of 20 and Burns and Vlasic were around 23/24.

So White didn’t get top line minutes.

And it did look like Kipper had the better night, some great saves by both goalies — but Niemi did let in a softie.

slappy

Zeke

White was paired with Vlasic, who is 1/2 of our top pairing d, no?

The extra minutes for Vlasic and Burns came from playing PP and PK I would imagine.

slappy

JM@99

Yeah, so great to see the crowd go nuts for Buster. Wish I could afford to buy tickets to an odd game @ the Tank here and there.

slappy

FDW@88

Doh, I was joking. Didnt think I needed to put a smiley face for something so obvious. But maybe for people like you, such tips are necessary.

MLBSF

What a train wreck.

Are people finally starting to take my word that there is absolutely no way the Sharks will be doing anything in the playoffs?

Playoffs?!? (in Jim Mora’s voice). I mean there’s still no guarantee they will even get in. They’re only where they are right now because they lead the division. Otherwise they would be down near eight.

This team will never be consistent enough to pull it all together to win the Cup. We know they’re going to lose on Friday to Chicago, and then they hit the road.

They used to be good on the road, but now after what I just saw in Phoenix, I’m not so sure.

Does anyone know what this team is? They are all over the map in every category, and need constant motivation.

You would think all of the failing they do every season would be motivation enough to play hard so they can win the Cup. So now they will probably have to struggle to make the playoffs and burn all their energy.

When they get bounced from the playoffs again, we’ll be told next season (well, 2013 since there is going to be a lock out) they have to get off to a better start so they’re not so tired in the playoffs.

Too much. Year after year, it never changes.

Z-Man

85 & 95: Was just trying to start an intelligent discussion instead of the usual crap.

Thanks for both excellent replies.

theOldeReprobate

Great game until the puck dropped. It was good to see Nolan off. He looked sad at first, then grinned at all the cheering. Typical hockey player, he didn’t shave to show up at the job.

After that ceremony an extremely frustrating game… required more than a few adult beverages afterwards to calm down. The reffing was the worst I’ve seen in person this season, and the number of Shark turnovers was appalling. I can’t decide which was worse.

D-men were making bad outlet passes, and forwards were terrible at coming back and getting open for the outlet. Skaters were making lazy or inaccurate passes in the other 2 zones too. Credit is also due to the Flames for a hard 2-man forecheck, all game long.

Kipper was at the top of his game.

I honestly don’t know why JT got the third star. Maybe because he was shooting so much and someone wants to reward him. I thought he had more lazy or inept passes than most of the Sharks.

theOldeReprobate

Brody & FDW re Colin White –
I know you 2 like to take the easy way out, but I don’t fault White for the GWG. I fault Thornton.

The Flames had a 2-man forecheck on Burns and White. Calgary #10 was guarding Burns and Jokinen was pressuring White behind the net. With the puck deep in his d-zone, and 2 Flames on top of the 2 Shark d-men, JT turns his back and skates off for a change as Tanguay skates right by him! Clowe came on the ice and tried but was too far behind the play to help out.

If I assign fault for that goal, I’d say:
1- JT for going for a change when it is 2-vs-2 deep in his own zone;
2- JT for turning his back on the play;
3- White could have tried to rim the puck out of the zone and risk icing it. That was his only reasonable option.
4- Burns for not calling for a reverse, although that was risky because Comeau was right on top of him.

I know you 2 are competing to see who is the most negative nabob, but you really need to look at the whole play, especially away from the puck.

I’m not wild about White; at this stage of his career he is a reasonable 5-6 pairing who’ll do reasonably well against the opponent’s 3rd and 4th lines. I do ask why the coaches had him out against the Jokinen/Tanguay/Iginla line for 2 even-strength goals. I also think the forwards were terrible all game about coming back to support the outlet.

IllinoiseShark

Moen is no good. We can do better than that. Would love Rutuu but i bet ya he resigns in Carolina. If we could I would trade Demers, Ferriero and a 4th for him. Tim Kennedy for Moen at best

Couture and Burns for Crosby and the cup is ours.

IllinoiseShark

On a serious note – My opinion on C. White is the same as the lot of you. He is Nic Wallin 2.0. Strictly a depth Dman. Still don’t get why Tmac plays him more than Vandy. We need a guy like Brooks Orpik or Kimmo Timmonen. NOT COLIN FRIGGING WHITE! Trade him for a 7th rd pick and get his uselessness off the ice.

What do you want to bet that Petrecki is just as good as White?

nolimits (DET-Diva)

“The formula is pretty simple. We’ve given up four or more goals 12 times this year and have won once,” coach Todd McLellan said. “If the guys think they can screw around with the puck and be lackadaisical with line changes then we will give up four again and won’t win. That will be addressed (Thursday) and you will see a different team on Friday.”

nolimits – I agree. About time. Also, TMac needs to be more of a leader during the game. And I don’t mean just shuffling lines around. I mean talking strategy and corrections with the players on the bench during the game and shouting out corrections and missed assignments to the players on the ice, during the game.

And why so often do we send just one forechecker in and then when the opponents easily start the puck out, a second forechecker shows up too late and now behind the play and a little frustrated that he’s out of the play makes a check on a defensemen borderline late to kind of get even?

Snow Shovel

I want to see a little more passion out of the coaches.

Snow Shovel

theOldeReprobate – Good assessment on that turnover/goal. I pretty much saw it the same way.

Doug H

good to hear TMac is pissed at his team.

that was just an effort straight from planet neptune. the sharks havent played that way at all this year.

the only positive i can take is that the flames were playing their A game and we still put 3 past them. i like the offense right now, but players are just making some wild decisions in their defensive end.

i thought the reffing all night was extremely poor…a lot of non-calls then the inevitable two PP in a row to make sure they put one past us.

ehhh, ready for the hawks friday!

homer

A question for people at the game (since it’s hard to determine this on TV):

Are the Sharks line changes glacially slow? It seems like whenever our forechecker causes a turnover, it’s *hours* (maybe a slight exaggeration) before support shows up. By comparison, when the Sharks cough it up in their own zone it seems like the opposition is always right there swarming on turnover. Can anyone comment on the line changes?

bruce

Niemi sucks

bruce

Isn’t it the goalie’s job to make up for teammates’ mistakes EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE??

nolimits (DET-Diva)

SJ line changes are so LA…laid-back and easygoing!

Hey, there are still 30 games left. If the big guns need to lead this team period; set the tone and get on a roll. Good test coming up for SJ with a very desparate Hawks team who has lost 6 in a row and is 3-5-2 in their last 10. Would be a great lift before a very long road trip begins.

Carcharodon_carcharias

Having no speed sucks for us. Brutal.

hmslion

A team with more than one line would have thrashed us last night…

Stanley cup contenter? If we drop out of first in the Pacific, we’ll be lucky to make the playoffs.

Johnny San Jose

FireDougWilson# 88 – Don’t fall out of your chair but I agree with 99% of what you said in that post. People have these elaborate dreams of fantasy trades that make absolutely no sense.

I would have agreed with you 100% if you would have said it a little nicer 😉

slappy

no limits@119

Yes the Hawks are in a nasty skid (dont you luv it) and theres no knights in shining armor to rescue them until the trade deadline. If and when Bowman gets the team a legit goalie and a top 4 dman. Right now even if Crawford and Emery were both playing goal at the same time, they couldnt stop a beach ball. Hawks represent low hanging fruit for the Sharks to take advantage of. If the Sharks dont get the job done on Fri, DW should give the boys a “pep talk” like he did last year. “Guys, I have only 3 weeks left before I make decisions about keeping or shipping out. Help me get it right…”

slappy

JSJ@122

Read #104. Suggesting that Detroit accept hand me downs and a 5th round prospect for Zetterberg was an obvious JOKE.

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